The Continuing Debate Over Affirmative Action

Graduate School of Public Policy Invites the Pros, Cons to Air Their
Differences

by Fernando Quintero

A panel discussion April 14 at the Graduate School of Public Policy
featuring Tom Wood, co-author of the California Civil Rights Initiative and a
Berkeley alumnus, underscored the "clash of fundamental values" in the current
debate over affirmative action.

The event, sponsored by the graduate school and Public Policy Students of
Color, addressed public policy implications of Wood's proposed amendment aimed
at dismantling state affirmative action programs.

The other panelists were David Vogel, professor of business and public policy;
Pedro Noguera, assistant professor of social and cultural studies in education;
and Carmen Estrada, director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action at the
Office of the President. Patrick Hayashi, associate vice chancellor for
admissions and enrollment, served as moderator.

"If you're against the Civil Rights Initiative, you're in favor of
discrimination," said Wood, who once taught religion and philosophy at
California State University, Fresno. "Start with the polling date. The majority
of voters want to see an end to preferential treatment.

The Civil Rights Initiative gives the American public what it wants," he said.
It would prohibit sate and local governments from granting preferential
treatment to any group or individual using sex, race, color, ethnicity or
national origin as a criterion for hiring, promoting, granting, admission to
college or selecting public contractors.

Wood added that about half of all women, African-American and Latino voters in
California support the proposal, according to recent Field and New York Times
polls. He denied "the canard that the initiative is a manifestation of white
male backlash."

Vogel, a Wood supporter, said reports of resentment among white men over their
perceived loss of social, economic and political power to women and minorities
in an ailing economy are exaggerated.

"There are already many blacks in entertainment and sports. White people don't
resent them in these institutions," he said. "The real issue is all people
should be treated the same."

Wood said the goal of his proposal was to even the playing field. Noguera
argued there was no such thing.

"The Civil Rights Initiative ignores the inequality that exists in our
society," he said. "This is a society based on racial privilege in favor of
whites," he said. "The practice of discrimination is ingrained."

Noguera said white males own, control or dominate all sectors of public and
private industry and cited a recent report that showed 97 percent of senior
managers in Fortune 500 companies are white men.

"We need Affirmative Action because we need proof that goes beyond commitment
to non-discrimination," he said.

Estrada said affirmative action is often misunderstood as preference based on
race or sex. "More often, it consists of outreach and recruitment to eliminate
the effects of past discrimination and add diversity," she said.

"Since the University of California is a public institution that serves the
people of the state, and with the population of the state expected to be more
than half non-white by the close of the decade, a balanced student body should
be our major goal."